High Court orders probe into possible corruption linked to Peshawar bus project

Work underway on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in Peshawar. (AN photo)

• High Court asks anti-corruption watchdog to investigate Peshawar’s BRT project.
• Peshawar Development Authority claims it informed the National Accountability Bureau about changes in design and increased cost in January.

PESHAWAR: Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) announced on Friday that it was launching a formal inquiry into Peshawar’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project. The announcement followed Thursday’s order by the Peshawar High Court (PHC) for the NAB to look into the BRT project, which recently announced an increase in construction costs to Rs68 billion. 
The NAB’s assistant director in Peshawar, Salma Begum, told Arab New that the inquiry would begin on Monday.
“After the court directives, our chairman authorized an inquire at a meeting on Friday, and now we will open the case,” Begum added.
The PHC also removed the director general of the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA), Israrul Haq on Thursday.
Following the filing of a petition by Amanullah Haqqani, leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazlur Rahman (JUI-F) —  an assembly of Islamic clerics — the court ordered the NAB to investigate the project and to submit its report before September 5.
On May 24, at the last meeting of the Khyber Pakhtunkwa (KP) administrative district cabinet, it was announced that the expected cost of the BRT project had increased from Rs49 billion to Rs68 billion due to changes in design and the adjustment of funds from the Asian Development Bank. 
Former PDA director general Haq told Arab News that the changes in cost and design of the project were communicated to NAB earlier this year, and said the project would be functional by mid-October this year.
“We communicated to the NAB on January 4 about the changes, as per the requirements, and about the cost increase,” he said. “A similar project in Punjab took more than two years to complete, while we will complete this mega-project in around one year.”
Haq added that Rs30 billion would be spent on the 28-km BRT corridor, the buses would cost Rs8.5 billion, while Rs3.5 billion would be paid as customs duty for the vehicles. Rs7.5 billion would be spent on commercial plazas, Rs1 billion on the scrapping of old buses, Rs1.5 billion on the relocation of utilities, Rs1.5 billion on land, and Rs12 billion on facade improvement and drainage systems.
“When the project was initiated, the price of iron was Rs72 per kg, but now it is Rs108 per kg; diesel was Rs80 per liter but now it is Rs114 per liter. The increasing value of the US dollar (from Rs104 at the start of the project to around Rs130 recently) are also reasons behind the increased cost,” he said. “The project entails Rs3.5 billion tax; the construction of an additional 1km bridge at Tehkal, which local residents are demanding, would cost Rs1.2 billion; two bridges in Chamkani would cost 1.2 billion; the cost of commercial buildings and shops on the corridor has increased from Rs3.5 billion to Rs7.5 billion; and an underpass near Hajji Camp housing 150 shops would cost Rs1 billion. All these changes have increased the project cost.”
Meanwhile, a former assistant engineer Gohar Mohammad Khan, who joined the project on May 11 and resigned two months later, told Arab News that the construction of the project was sub-standard, which could have serious consequences once it is operational.
“I resigned because I learned that about 60 pillars of the BRT in different parts of the city do not have strong foundations,” he said. “They have laid iron bars on muddy ground. The iron bars in the foundations need to be laid over a concrete surface.” 
Haq rejected those allegations, saying the engineer “didn’t work long enough to know the full details of what he is talking about.” Haq said Khan was “fired because his performance was not satisfactory.”
Dr. Sarfaraz Khan, an analyst based in Peshawar, says that it would have been better for Peshawar’s PTI government if the BRT had been completed during their term, adding that the party may not receive credit for the new transport system.
“In order to claim a project, a government should complete it, so that the public benefits from it before the end of their rule,” he said.
A spokesman for the outgoing government, Shaukat Yousafzai, said that the project had been delayed because of an administrative hiccup in the federal government.
“We were in touch with the Asian Development Bank since 2014 about the project. But the federal government delayed the No-Objection Certificate for the project and subsequent formalities like the approval and release of funds by the ADB also took time,” he claimed.